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SPEECH 



OF THE 



HON. JOHN M. CLAYTON, 

DELIVERED AT 

A PUBLIC DINNER ' 
Given to him at Wilmington, on the 16th November, 1850, 

BY THE 

¥HIGS OP DELAWARE, 

As a testimonial of their gratitude for his 

LONG ATS'D FAITHFUL PUBLIC SERVICES; 

TOGETHER WITH THE 

PROCEEDINGS CONNECTED WITH THAT FESTH'AL 



SPEECH 



01' THE 



HON. JOHN M. CLAYTON, 



A PUBLIC DINNER 
Given to him at Wilmington, on the IGth November, 1850, 

BY THE "^t^^^^^ * 

WHIGS or DELAWARE,' 

As a testimonial of their gratitude for his 

LONG AND ExVITIIFUL PUBLIC SERVICES; 

TOGETHER WITH THE 

PKOCEEDINGS CONNECTED WITH THAT FESTH'AL. 



-2^\ 



e:^ 



r/b-^ 



PREFACE 



The speech of Mr. Clayton, made at a Public Dinner given to him, 
some time since at Wilmington, together with the proceedings con- 
nected with it, were published in the "Philadelphia North American" 
immediately after they occurred. 

A Jiesolution was passed by (he Committee, directing that the 
speech, and the proceedings should be published in a pamphlet. 

That Resolution, however, was never carried into effect. 

From, the repeated attacks made upon the administration of Gen- 
eral Taylor, it has been thought advisable by some of the friends of 
that administration, to re-publish in an enduring form, its able vindi- 
cation in the speech of Mr. Clayton delivered at that dinner. 

This vindication is due to the public justice of the country. It is 
due to the characters of the individuals who composed the cabinet of 
General Taylor. But above all, it is due to the memory of that be- 
loved patriot, whose ashes now lie mouldering in the dust— whose 
fame is a part of the public property of the country, and whose name 
will endure as long as virtue, valor, and patriotism continue to be 
cherished bv mankind. 



Wir.MTis'GTox, Del.awakk, } 
January ]r)th, 1858. ) 



(From thi! Delaware Sratu Journal, Oct. ISth, 1850.) 

COMTLIMENTARY DINNER 

TO 

HON. JOHN M. CLAYTON. 



The Whigs of Wilnningtnn held a very spirited meeting at the 
MoKUNA Hall, on Monday evening last, at which John Connell, 
Esq., presided. By an unanimous vote it was determined to tender 
our distinguished fellow^citizen, the HON. JOHN M. CLAYTON, 
the compliment of a Public Dinner; and a Committee of Fifty 
Whigs was appointed to wait upon him for the above purpose. Ar- 
rangements will be made to accommodate all who may favor the oc- 
casion with their presence. It is to be a general thing, and none are 
to consider themselves excluded. The following are the names of 
the gentlemen appointed, and the correspondence on the occasion : 
Hon. Joiix Wales, Chairman. 



Capt. Wm. Thatcher, 
Jos. T, Warner, 
Charles Warner, 
John H. Price, 
Joseph AI. Barr, 
John A. Duncan, 
George Richardson, 
Edward B. AJcClees, 
Wm. M. Sink, 
Samuel Piatt, 
Capt, Alex. Kelley, 
Dr. A. H. Grimshaw, 
John K. Latimer, 
Cf)arles \. Dupont, 
Wm. H. Nafi; 
John Caulk, 
John Miller, 
H. K. Biintrhurst, 
John Coiiii,'!!, 
Enoch Koderts, 
Maj, Philip Keybold, 
Thomas M. Clark, 
Thomas Scott, 
?Springer McPaniel, 
Z^^lexis \. Dupont, 



Benj. T. Biggs, 
James Murdick, Jr., 
Dr. Barstow, 
Henry (larrett, 
James Campbell, 
Wm. K. McClees, 
John Allen, 
Wm. H. Grifhn, 
Wm. H. England, 
James C. Aikin, 
Benjamin Gibbs, 
H. G. Banning, 
Jacob Jefferis, 
E. C. Stotsenberg, 
Cyrus Pyle. 
Rathmell Wilson, 
Maj, Wm. Roth well, 
Samuel Burnham, 
George Z. 'i'yboul, 
John C. Clark, 
Lewis Thompson, 
J. J. Henry, 
Anthony J. Higgins, 
Pr. A. C. Reynolds. 



On motion, tho mepting ndjourncHl to meet again on Wednesday 
evening at half past seven o'clock, at the same place, to hear the Re- 
port of the Committee. 

JOHN CONNELL, Chairman. 
VVm. K. McClees, Secretary. 



Wilmington, October 15, 1S50. 

Sir : 

At a meetinfj; of a large number of your friends and fellow-citizens, 
held in this city last evening, for the purpose of making known to 
you their high appreciation of your public services, and to testify 
their esteem and respect for you personally, the undersigned were ap- 
pointed a committee to invite your attendance at a Dinner, to be 
given on as early a day as may meet your convenience to be present. 

Your long, useful and eminent career, in the Senate of the United 
States, as a representative of Delaware, and your connection with the 
late administration of the lamented Taylor, in which you took so 
.distinguished a part, by the able and successful management of the 
foreign relations of our country, have increased the attachment and 
admiration of your friends, and render this mark of their respect but 
an act of justice to a tried and faithful public servant. 

The Committee, therefore, most cordially unite with their fellow- 
citizens in tendering you this invitation, and earnestly hope that it 
will be in your povver to accept it, and afford to your many political 
and personal friends an opportunity of showing you their regard. 

Viery Respectfull}-, 

Your friends and fellow-citizens, 

JOHN WALES and others. 
Hon. John M. Clayton, 

Buena Vista. 



BuENA Vista, Del., Oct. 16, 1850. 

Gentlemen : 

I accept with pleasure the invitation of my friends and fellow- 
citizens, so kindly tendered by your letter in their behalf, to meet 
them at a public dinner ; and as my private aifairs, which have been 
much deranged by attention to public duti^^s and eng;igements during 
» long period, r'-(|uire my care during the pn'^eut monlh, I l)eg leave 



6 

to suggest that the time to be fixed upon for our meeting may be some 
day, most agreeable to their wishes, after the first of November next, 
1 am, gentlemen, as you all know, no candidate for public honors or 
office. My object in waiting upon you will be to offer nay sincere 
thanks to my fellow-citizens of this, the State of my nativity, for all 
the confidence and kindness they have so uniformly extended to me 
on every occasion during a long public life. At different periods I 
have held most of the public places of trust and honor within their 
gift, and now I shall be most happy to evince my gratitude, not in 
thanks for future favors, but for those which, by their partiality and 
friendship, have been profusely bestowed upon me. The very 
flattering terms in which you have spoken of my public services are 
gratefully appreciated, and 1 desire now to express my acknowledg- 
ments to those who have deputed you to honor me w'ith such an invi- 
tation, and to you, gentlemen, for whom individually I have long 
cherished sentiments of the highest personal regard. 
I have the honor to be, 
Very sincerely, 

Your friend and fellow-citizen, 

JOHN M. CLAYTON. 

Messrs. John Wales, Enoch Roberts, John A. Duncan, George Eichard- 
son, Henrv G, Banning, John Connell, J. G. Barstow, William K. 
McClees, John R. Latimer, Henry Garrett, Joseph M. Barr, &.c., 
Committee of Invitation. 



COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENT. 



TilOxMAS M. RODNEY, 
Doctor J. G. BAKSTOW, 
JOHN A. ALLDERDICE, 
HENRY R. BRINGHURST, 
LEONARD E. WALES, 
E. C. STOTSENBURG, 
ALEXIS DUPONT, 
HENRY GARRETT. 
R. M. CANBY, 
E. JEFFERIES, 

WILLIAM K. McCLEES, 

Z. B. GLAZIER, 

TREASURER, 

P. SHEWELL JOHNSON. 

SECUETAKY, 

HENRY R. BRINGHURST. 



CWY OF THE LETTEK OF INVITATION, SENT BY THE COM- 
MITTEE TO THE INVITED GUESTS. 



Wilmington, Del., November 5, 1850. 
Dear Sir : 

Our distinguished fellow-citizen, Hon. Jou.x M. Clayton, having 
accepted an invitation to meet his friends at a public dinner, in this 
place, on Saturday, the 16th instant, we shall be most happy lo' have 
you with us on that day, to partake of the festivities of the occasion. 

Mr. Clayton's eminent and patriotic service's in our National Coun- 
cils, his faithful attachment to and eloquent advocacy of the principles 
of the great Whig party of the Union, have called forth this public 
manifestation of their regard and gratitude on the part of his political 
friends in Delaware. 

It will be gratifying to your fellow-whigs of this State to meet you 
at the festive board, to unite with them in the reception of our chief 
gueat, and we trust that you will find it convenient to honor us with 
your presence. 

We have the honor to be, 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servants, 

JOHN WALES, 
JOHN R. LATIMER, 
JOHN CONNELL, 

Committee of Invitation. 



OFFICERS OF THE DAY. 



PRESIDENT : 

CHARLES J. DUPONT. 

MCE PRESIDENTS : 

Hon. JOHN WALES, 
EVAN C. STOTSENBURG, 
PHILIP REYBOLD, 
JOHN R. LATLMER, 
Dr. R. McCABE, 
JAMES BUCKMASTER, 
JOHN CONNELL. 



[From tlis " North Amoricm."] 



COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 

TO THE 

ROI. JOIII M. CLAITOF. 



The complimentary dinner given by h\^ political friends in Dela- 
ware, to the Hon. John M. Clayton, took place, according to appoint- 
ment, on Saturday, llith instant, at Wilmington. The Committee of 
Arransfement had secured the Odd Fellows' Hall in that city for the 
occasion; andeverv thing was done that taste and Hberality could doto 
render the festival in all respects worthy of those who gave it, as well 
as of the distinguished citizen it was designed to honor. The spacious 
saloon was occupied by four ample tables, extending its entire length, 
each of which fairly groaned beneath the weight o-f a most sumptuous 
entertainment provided by Messrs. Miller and Sharpe. Every variety 
of dish that could tempt the palate, from the more substantial edibles 
to the most delicate and dainty viands, were spread profusely but 
with the most elegant order, along the festive boards, and presented to 
the eye a toute ensemble that elicited universal admiration, and re- 
flected credit on those to whom this part of the arrangements had 
been committed. The north end of the hall was gorgeously dressed 
with the striped and starry folds of the American flag, over which 
was placed, in large letters, "The Union ;" in the centre of the south 
side of the room, the national colors were huns:, havin"- on one hand, 
the inscription "Delaware — the first to adopt and the last to abandon 
the Constitution," and on the other, "Delaware's Favorite Son — John 
M. Clayton." Beneath, there extended a balcony, beautifully deco- 
rated with white and pink drapery, occupied by the Philadelphia 
Brass Band, and over the whole scene, the light from two magnifi- 
cent chandeliefs shed a genial and ladiant splendor. About half- 



n 

past four o'clock, P. M., the company having cnlcn-d the saloon, .Mr. 
Clayton was announceil, and as, amid the inspiring strains of the mu- 
sic, he passed down to a chair next J\Ir. Chaklks J. Dupoxt, the Pre- 
sident on the occasion, all present rose to receive him, and wlien he 
had taken his seat, expressed their feelings in three hearty cheers.— 
The dinner being over and the tables clean>d, the President announc- 
ed the regular toasts as follows — 

1. The President of the United J^tates. Preside7i(\s March. 

2, The memory of tiiat pure patriot and enlightened statesman, 
Zachary Taylor, whose loss a nation mourns, and whose name and fame 
will endure, when brass and marble shall have decayed. Dirge. 

.S. Our distinguished guest, the Hon. John M. Clayton, Delaware's 
favorite son, who has w<m for himsel! in tiie Senate and in the Cabi- 
net, unfading honor and imperishable renown, ^^uld Lang Si/7ik. 

In offering this toast, which was received with six hearty cheers, the 
President said that he had been styled by his polifu-al opponents "the 
old stager." True it was that he liad long id'rMilitied himself with the 
glorious Whig party, and by his devotion to its principles, and his 
earnest, unremitted efforts in their behalf, entitled himself, perhaps, 
to the name by which his adversaries had distinguished him. He had, 
however, in all his past connection with politics, received but little, 
and desired but little from his j)arty. The motives which had actu- 
ated him in selecting his political faith and in contributing his mev)ns 
and energies to promote the success of the great measures of policy 
which that faith inculcated as the most conducive to the public wel- 
fare, were an honest, disinterested solicitude for the honor and good 
of the country, and a wish to sive its priceless institutions from the 
dangerous spirit and practices of those wlio valued the government on- 
ly as an instrument of power, and cherished its liberties only to the 
extent to which they might advance, by preserving them, the ends of 
personal profit or glory. He said it was enough for him that he had 
been honored by his- friends with the ofiice of presiding at the fes'ivi- 
ties intended to compliment Delaw^are's noblest son, and he should ev- 
er hold it as among the proudest recollections of his liie. 

Mr. Clayton then rose, and, after tiie tumultuous applause with which 
he was greeted liad subsided, spoke as follows:- — ■ 

I use language but tame and trite, my fellow citizens, wh^n I say 
that I cannot find words adequate to express the feelings which over- 
power me at this moment. I come before you as a mere private indi- 
vidual, without office, without station, without power. Ko man with- 
in the sound of my voice or elsewhere, can ex])ect, by rendering ho- 



12 

mage to or conferrir.o; praise upon me, to receive anything, so far as I 
know, now or herfal'ter. 1 am like one who has returned from a lonoj 
voyage to a distant country. I haye seen much — much of which 1 
wisli to speak to my old companions and friends. But I hring with 
me nothing bijt a grateful heart and an honest purpose, (Cheers.) 

My fellow-citizens, my chief object in accepting your kind invita" 
tinn to meet you this day, was to tender my thanks for the confidence 
and support which, through a long public lift', whenever 1 have been 
in public station or a candidate for public ofhce, has been constantly 
extended to me by the people of my native State. 1 announced be- 
fore the election in Delaware that I was no candidate for any office. 
I postponed this meeting till after the election had taken place, to en- 
able others fully to understand my purpose and position. 1 have filled 
so many of the most important offices in the gift of the people of De- 
laware, that 1 feel bound to make some public acknowledgment to 
those who have stood by me amidst all the storms of party violence 
which have swept over the country dqring the last quarter of a cen- 
tury. I am well aware (hat no services of mine could have cancelled 
or can repay, the debt of gratitude 1 owe them ; yet 1 may be permit- 
ted, but 1 cannot do it without emotion, now to say, upon this occa- 
sion of meeting them after a long separation, with what sincere plea- 
sure 1 take my old friends and fellow-citizens by the hand, and ac- 
knowledge the heaitfelt obligations by which 1 am, and ever shall be, 
bound lo them. (Applause.) 

We have passed throuo-h another electioneering campaign, and, for 
the first time in a quarter of a century, the Whigs of Delaware have 
lost the power of the State, which l;as been transferred by a train of 
accidents, to our political opponents. For the period just named, the 
party to which we have been c),ftached has held the legislative power 
of this State, without one single day of intermission within my recol- 
lection. That power has now gone to the party entertaining directly 
ppposite opinions. But it has not gone to them, and they do not hold 
it, by the tenure by which we held it. (Great applause.) We held 
}t by the will of a majority of the citizens of Delaware. (Yes, we 
did.) They do not now, hold it, nor, in my judgrpent, will they ever 
hold it, by tht- will of a majority of the citizens of Delaware. (No, 
never!) The Govprnor they have elected is the representative Go- 
vernor of a minority in the State. The Kepresentative to Congress, 
whom they h^ve sent to legislate for us, is a minority representative, 
and does not, and, in my judgment, never will, represent, as the Whig 
Representatives have proudly done, the will of a majority of the free- 
men of the State. (Applause.) The Whigs alone can elect men that 
represent a majority of the people of Delaware. No other party ex- 
ists here that is abje to do that thing but the Whig party. Look at 
fhe recent canvas?, ilundreds upon hundreds of our friends, calling 



13 

{themselves T.emporan CO men, liave chosen to strike down the party to 
which they had adhered for twenty years. That is a suhject tor them 
to reflect upon ; not a subject upon which I now choose to sj)eak. And 
I only advert to the tact tha,t we have been stricken down, as it were, 
in the house of our friends, for the purpose of saying that the Whig 
party has not been conquered by its old political enemies, but is as 
strong, if not stronger, than it has been for the past ten years ; and 
that if those who entertain tlic same sentiments that we entertain up- 
on the great national qu^-stions which divide the two great parties of 
the country, had voted according to their own principles and their 
own professions, we should have been in a majority as triumphant as 
the Whigs of Delaware ever were from their origin. (Great ap- 
piause.) 

Fellow-citizens, I did not come here to discuss matters of local in- 
terest. I have deviated thus far from my pur[)ose, imuelled by tlie 
strong feelings of the moment. 

I have witnessed too much of party strife to desire unnecessarily to 
mix any of the ingredients oftiiat bitter cup with the entertainments 
of thisday. Yet I feel that it is my duty, and 1 know that it is expect- 
.ed of me, that 1 should say a few words in relation to some of the 
stirring; events which have agitated the country during the last two 
years, and still continue to excite it. 

The advent of General Taylor to power constituted a new era in 
the history of the Republic, tie came into othce by the suli'rages of 
the people ; yet he presented ihe tirst instance of a President, so elect- 
,ed, with a practical majority in both branches of the National Legis^ 
iature opposed not only to him, but to the principles which secured 
his election. The organization of both houses of Congress was against 
liim, before he had any opportunity to develop tlie measures of policy 
upon which he intended to administer the government. Not a single 
committee was left in either branch which was not appointed upon 
jiarty principles, in opposition to those who elevated him to oflice. — 
He was, theretbrn-, instantly surrounded by unparalleled embarrass^^ 
ments and difficulties, presenting a new and untried occasion to test 
the strength and success of our republican system. 

After twent}^ years of virtual disfranchisement and proscription, the 
great body of the friends who had sustained him looked t(j the return 
of a state of things wiiich should present thetu, at least, upon an equal 
footing with their political opponents; and, while among a hundred 
applicants for othce, one only could obtain it, the impatience of such 
as were disappointed was too often sure to be succeeded by resentment 
that their claims were not preferred. Such did not require the prompt- 
ings of others to induce them to swell the ranks of the opposition, both 
in and out of Congress. Superadded to these difficulties was the pecu- 
liar state of public affairs arising out of the recent annexation of the 



14 

vast territories ceded by the treaty of Mexico — difficulties which 
threatened the peace of the country, and appalled the stoutest hearts 
during the continuance of that administration which had waged the 
war and incurred the enormous expense of the acquisition. 

During the session of Congress which preceded the Presidential el- 
ection of 1848. the exertions of the then exis:ing administration were 
directed in vain to the removal of the difliculties to which I have re- 
ferred. That administration had effectually roused the demon of dis- 
cord, but proved utterly impotent to lay it. Yet, in m}' judgment, 
many of the recommendations of President Polk in his last annual 
message to Congress were eminently wise, patriotic and just, especial- 
ly those which suggested the admission of the new territories as States, 
left to form their own domestic institutions without control, and with- 
out any Congressional restriction in regard to the sulijt^ct of slaverj'. 

Bt^fore I proceed further with the history of these events, permit 
me to recall to your recollection the course which I myself pursuf^d, 
while representing you in ihe public coancils, in rel't-rence to tliis 
subject. 

During the session of 1847-8, a viol^^nt dt>ba^e .^sprung up in the 
Senate of ti.e United States, which w;is conducted with unusual 
acrimony, in regard to the rights of the citizens of the Southern 
States to carry their slaves into the new territories. On the part of 
the North, it was affirmed that Wv territories were "free soil" by the 
Mexican laws, whicli, it was maintnined, stiil continuf^d to exist, and 
would remain in force until abrogated either by ihe power ol Congress 
or the eivction of State governments within the tt^nitories. On the 
part of the South, it was conti nded that the right to enjoy slave 
properly within these limits was a necessai-y consequence of the 
acquisition obtained by the common blood and treasure. These 
clashing opinions were u?-gpd with consummate ability on both sides, 
and especially in the Senate, of which I was at that time a member. 
Threats of disunion often rang through the lialls of both branches of 
Congress, arising out of this conflict ot 0|)inion. I did not partici[)ate 
in that debate, but exerted myself to hold a position midway between 
the contending parties, like the State I represented, and to seize (he 
first occasion upon which I could move efi'ectively to allay the agita- 
tion, and. it possible, to settle the controversy. I did not design to 
buy peace or to add new elements of discord by the introduction of 
other topics unconnected with the inunediafe question before me ; 
and I thought then, as I believe now, that the constitution itself pre- 
sented the natural and proper mode to terminate the strife and 
maintain the integrity of the Union. (Applause.) While the storm 
of discord was at the highest, I proposed to both the contending 
parties to settle the question by obeying the mandates of the Constitu- 
tion in the o!-ganization of new ternfoiial goverumenls, over Call- 



15 

fornia and- New Mexico without the Wilmot proviso, but with a 
positive provision to bring tiie subject oC the riglit to hold slaves 
under its laws, as they existed, before the Supreme Court of the 
United States, the tribunal appointed by the fatbers of the republic 
to decide between the contending members of the confederacy. — 
(Applause.) This proposition was met in the most cordial spirit, and 
ap[)roved, with a tew exceptions, by the great body of Southern 
members of Congress in both branches; and, after a protracted and 
exciting debate, a bill to that effect, reported by a committee of which 
1 was the chairman, passed the Senate of the United States by a 
majority of two-thirds of all its members. During its passage through 
that body, a tierce opposition was excited against it in some of the 
Northern States, where political purposes could best be subserved by 
the continued agitation of the question of slavery. Mr. Van Buren 
became the leader of a new party organized upon the principle of 
opposition to this or any other plan of adjustment without the W ilmot 
Proviso; and for this measure of peace, v/hich, 1 shall die in the be- 
lief, was better calculated to compose the distraction and divisions of 
the country than any which has ever yi"t been offered, 1 was met in 
the North by the fiercest spirit of denunciation. It was immediately 
announced that fifty thousand men had a^sembled in the Park in New 
York, to express their opposition and to utter their execrations against 
what they were pleased to call "the Clayton Compromise." The 
friends who stood by me in the North in my anxious efforts to restore 
peace and harmony to the country, were denounced as having been 
sold to the South ; and amidst the din and clamor of these party 
combatants, reason and aroument were either unheard or lost their 
proper iatiaence. In this state of things, the bill having passed the 
Senate, after weeks of discussion ami one protracted session of twen- 
tv-two hours, during which Mr Di\, of New York, and Mr. Niles, of 
Connecticut, both members of the new Free Soil school, distinguished 
themselves, in o;)position to the measuie, not less by their ability 
than by their unmeasured zeal, it was presented to the Hotise of Re- 
presentatives for concurrence ; and there, without one word of debate, 
without a single reference to a committee, without, as I am bound to 
believe, any })roper knowledge or appreciation of its true characte;, 
it was immediately strangled by a motion to lay it on the table, by a 
majority, (I think) of four votes out of more than two hundred. — 
This measure, which met the hearty co-operation and concurrence of 
tlie '-distinguished statesman of South Carolina, John C. Calhoun, 
now no more, and received the votes- not only of boih the Senators, 
but of all the Representatives of that State, satisfied and secured at 
the same time the acquiescence and the adhesion of, the south generally. 
The defeat of the measure was considered as indicating, on the part 
of the North,, a dcterminaliou to refuse to abide by the decision of 



IG 

the common arbiter, appointed by the constitution itself to settle the' 
question. I deeply regreted it at tlie time, and have not ceased to 
deplore it. That defeat added fuel to the Hame already existing in 
the South ; and I, with others, conscious of that fact, immediately 
looked with anxiety for some other measure of pacification, which, 
like that I had proposed, would not compromit the principles or outrage' 
the feelings of either section of the confederacy. (Great applause.) 

There seemed to be but one measure left which could efFectually 
secure the same object; and when Mr Polk's message at the com- 
mencement of the next session of Congress, suggested, in terms not 
to be mistaken, that Congress might safely leave the question undis- 
turbed until the people of California and New Mexico should apply 
for admission as sovereign States of this Union, there seemed to be a 
general wish during the session of 184S-9, that the people within 
those limits, in the free exercise of their right of self-government, 
should, upon the admission of these new States, settle this and all 
other questions of domestic policy to suit themselves. Bills to admit 
(he States were introduced into both branches of Congress ; and the 
prospect of pacification and adjustment brightened as it became known 
that the President elect favored the same policy. Mr. Calhoun, the 
a'cknowledged leader of the Southern section, had proclaimed the 
right of self-government in the people of these territories, in his 
celebrated resolutions of 184.1, in the following terms : 

"Resolved, That it is a fundamental principle in our political 
creed, that a people, in forming a constitution, have the unconditional 
Tight to form and adopt the government which they may think best 
calculated to secure their liberty, prosperity, and happiness ; and in 
conformity thereto, no other condition is imposed by the Federal 
Constitution on a State, in order to be admitted into this Union, ex- 
cept that its constitution shall be 'republican ;' and that the imposition 
of any other by Congress, would not only be in violation of the 
Constitution, but in direct conflict with the principle on which our 
political system rests," 

Mr. Polk, in his message of December .5, 1848, inculcated the same 
doctrines. "The question," said he, " is believed to be rather abstract 
than practical, whether slavery ever can or would exist in any portion 
of the acquired territory even if it were left to the option of the 
slaveholding States themselves. From the nature of the climate and 
productions, in much the larger proportion of it it is certain that it 
coul'd never exist." And again, he says: "In organizing govern- 
ments over these territories, no duty imposed on Congress by the 
colistitution requires that they should legislate on the subject of 
slavery, while their power to do so is not only seriously questioned, 
but denied by many of the soundest expounders of that instvumenl'. 



17 

Wheth'r Conf;;ross s'lall legislate or not, the people of tli^ acquired 
Teriitories, wlien assembled in convention to forui JStaie constitutions, 
will possess the sol(» and exclusive power to det<"rtninp for tliemselves 
whether slavery shall or shall not exist within their limits. If Con- 
gress shall abstain from interfering nnth the question, the peofde of 
tlipse territories will be left free to adjust it as they may think pro- 
per when they apply for admission as States into the Union.. No en- 
actment of Congress would restrain the people of any of the sovereign 
States of the L'nion, old or m-w, north or i-outh, slaveholding or non- 
slavelioldintr, from determining the character of their own domestic 
institutions as they may deem wise and proper. Any and all of such 
States possess this right, and Congress cannot deprive them of it. The 
people of Geoigia might, if they chose, so alter their constitution as to 
abolish slavery within its limits; and the people of V^ermont might so 
alter their constitution as to admit slavery within its limits. Both 
States would possess the right; though, as all know, it Is not probable 
that either would exert it. It is fortunate for the peace and harmony 
of the Union that this question is in its nature temporary, and can only 
CO itinue for the brief period which will intervene before California and 
J\''eW Al exico may be admitted as States into the Union. From the tide 
of population now flowing into them, it is highly probable that this 
ivi/i soon occur. ^^ He afterwards adds tliat, " if Congress, instead of 
observing the course of non-interference, leaving the adoption of their 
own domestic instiivtions to the people w/io may inhabit these Territor- 
ies; or if, instead of extending the Missouri compromise line to the 
Pacific, shall prefer to submit the legal and cons^titutional questions 
which may arise to the decision of the judicial tribunals, «s ri;«.9 pro- 
posed in a bill which passed the Senate at your last session, an adjust-, 
ment may be effected in this mode. If the whole subject be referred 
♦ o the Judiciary, all parts of the Union would cheerfnlly acquiesce in 
the fmftl decision of the tribunal crcntid by the Constitution for theset- 
tlement of all questions which may arise under the Constitution, trea- 
ties and laws of the Un'ted States.''^ 

Of the soundness of the opinions here expressed, I never entertain- 
ed a doubt. These were justly regarded, during the wliole session 
which preceded the close of Mr, Polk's administration and the inau- 
guration of General Taj lor, as the leading doctrines not oflty of south- 
ern statesmen, but also of the democratic parly. Not only was the 
Cabinet of President Polk committed to these doctrines,- but his party 
in Congress espoused the same principles ; and these principles gained 
sirength during the whole of that session, to such an extent that good 
men throughout the country regarded them as the ark of their political 
safety from the threatening evils arising out of our territorial acquisi^ 
tions'. The House of Representatives contained a small majority, as 
we have seen, in opposition to tlie last measure reconiivended by Pre- 
sident Polk, which was the bill I had introduced at the pi< vious scs- 



18 

sion ; and, as msny who had opposed llict hill avowed themseives 
friendly to the measure recommended by him, of awaiting the action 
of the people in the formation of State j^overnments both in California 
and New Mexico, I acquiesced in the g^-ner•,^l sentiment which favored 
that course of policy, because it would as efJectually settle the whole 
controversy when the States should be admitted, as the bill I had pro- 
posed for submitting the question to the judicial tribunals ; and I was 
desirous to avoid the opposition of such as having once voted against 
the bill of peace I had proposed, from the mere pride of political con- 
sistency, would probably persevere in doing so. 1 thought then and 
Ih.ink yet that that bill presented by far the most eligible mode of de- 
ciding the question that could be suggested. With President Polk, I 
did not doubt that "all parts of the Union would cheefully acquiesce 
in the final decision of the tribunal created by the Constitution for 
the settlement of all questions arising under the Constitution, treaties, 
and laws of the United States." Upon the formation of territorial 
governmei;ts, judicial tribunals were necessarily to he established ; 
and the Constitution commanded us, in the erection of such tribunals, 
to make the necessary regulations for giving to the Supreme Court its 
appellate jurisdiction. This provision in the bill was, therefore, a 
nieasrjre, in my view, imperatively demanded of Congress, should ter- 
ri'toria! governments be established. But no such measure was neces- 
sary, in case it should be determined that Congress should not inter- 
fere, in the language of President Polk, " for the brief period whicli 
would intervene before California and New Mexico would be ad- 
mitted as States into the Union'"' — events which, he declared, "it was 
highly probable would soon occur." Influenced by these considera- 
tions, my own sentiments on this subj<>ct were, thus far, entirely in 
coincidence with those of southern statesmen and of the leading men 
of the democratic party itself. 

It was at this stage of the progress of this agitation that I was 
honored by President Taylor with a place in his Cabinet. (Loud and 
long continued cheering.) Coming into power with a substantial ma- 
jority against him in both Houses, his great aim and end being the 
harmony and happiness of the country, he naturally, and as I thought 
wisely, concluded that it would best conduce to the successful adjust- 
ment of these questions, to carry out the policy suggested by his 
predecessor, and sustained, as I have stated, by the very party which 
had opposed his own election. He sought to make no party issue out 
of the controversy, but deeply deprecated the geographical divisions 
which would necessarily arise out of such an issue. Upon the organ- 
szation of the first Congress after his inauguration, he recommended it 
to await the action of the people in the formation of State govern- 
m^ents in the new territories, and expressed the same opinion, with his 
predeces-or, thai these events would probably soon occur. It was 
apparent that by this means the vexed qu-stion as to the power and 
duty of ('ongi-essto interdict slavery within these territories would be 



avoided, without doing vlol.-ncc^ fo f he feellnor^i or prejudices of either 
section of the country; luid when his Calil'oinia message was sent to 
the House of Representatives, recommending this course of policy, 
the opposition press of the country burst lorth in one general outcry 
that he had hut adopted the resolutions and ])rinciples of the demo- 
cratic party, and co|)ied the recotrimendafion of President Polk. 
(Laughter.) The complaint was that he h-)d proposed n-.thing new ; 
and while a studied effort was made to heap praises on those who, as 
it was alleged, had ori^^inated these suggestions, he was denounced m 
unmeasured terms for his "imbecility ' in merely following in the foot- 
steps of others. Their censure under such circumstances was the 
highest encomium that could liave been bestowed upon him. (Great 
applause.) 

It is well known to many of you, my fellow-citizens, that I was 
opposed to the acquisition of these territories. I never voted for such 
an acquisition. The Legislature of this State had instructed me to 
vote aiiainst the annexation of any new territory, without a prohibi- 
tion of slavery within its limits. I obeyed these instructions ; and, 
in pursuance of them, I vott-d for the restriction, when the treaty of 
Guadalupe Hidalgo was before the Senate. It is knowa to most of 
you that, in common with m.ny others with whom I was accustomed 
to act, I predicted the evils which have since fallen upon the country 
inconsequence of the purchase of California and i\ew Mexico. But, 
when that territory had heeu acquired, I felt bound, as a friend of 
the Union, to promote its harmony by any and every measure which 
would prevent the alienation of one portion of the country from the 
other, or the organization of geographical parties within it. I did not 
believe, and do not now beiieve, that there was any danger of dis- 
union from the adoption of the measures proposed by Presidents Polk 
and Taylor. (Applause.) I read the speeches of gentlemen of great 
distinction, who painted in vivid colors the horrois of disunion, and 
predicted, in melancholy jeremiads, the total subversion of our whole 
confederated system, in "the event of the admission of New Mexico 
and California as States of this Union. (Laughter.) The flights of 
oratory on these topics were interesting exhibitions of genius. 'J"he 
pathos and effect with which the dissolution of the confederacy and 
the consequences of civil war were depicted in Congress made deep 
impressions on the country, and, in common with others, 1 confess 
that I admired 

"How cunningly the blood and tears were drawn." 

(Great laughter.) But I never seriously believed a syllable of the 
story that there was danger of dissolution of this glorious Union 
arisino- out of waiting for the action of the people of the territories 
in the creation of their own domestic institutions, or of acknowledg- 
ing their right of self-government, by the admission of the States in- 
to^this Union. I would not tm-n on my heel to pluck a feather from 



20 

the plume of any of (liose distiiigLiished orators who, under the b.-- 
lief that such means were necessary to save' the Union, kept Congress 
and the whole coLuitry in a state of continued agitation for about ten 
months, and who, having raised the ghost of disunion, afterwards ob- 
tained the credit of laying it. (Laughter.) My faith in the perpe- 
tuity of our glorious Kepublic rests on a somewhat better foundation 
than theirs. I believe it was not at any moment in the power of an> 
of them — no, not of all the members of both Houses combined — to 
dissolve this Union. 1 firmly believe that the first serious palpable 
and tangible overt act of treason would have been succeeded by tiie 
degradation and downfall of the traitors. (Great applause.) 

Tlie blessings flowing from this Union are too deeply seated in the 
hearts of the American peojde for them to sutler any number of ilem- 
agogues, whether in or out of Congress, to snatch from them this 
priceless inheritance. 1 have lived too long in public life, and set-n 
too much of public men and their policy, to mistake the ravings of a 
few madmen, in either section of the Union, for the decisions of 
whole communities resolutely bent on their own or their coiintry'.-i 
ruin. I smile at the struggles of the politician who seeks to attain 
party ascendancy for himself or his friends by endeavoring to float 
higher up than any others upon the waves of sectional excitement. 
Tliere is no danger in these demonstrations, so long as the great 
American heait — the heart of the people (I do not mean of Con- 
gress) — remains sound. (Great applause.) i can laugh at the effort of 
the political fanatic or madman who strives to make it appear to 
either section of the Union that he is a better triend to it than any 
body else, and, to gain distinction, "outherods Herod and overdoes 
Termagant." (Laughter.) There is generally, I say, no danger in 
all this to any hut those who preach and attem[)t to practice absolute 
treason and disunion, and, indeed, there is generally very little dan- 
ger even to them. It is "a valiant flea that eats his breakfast on the 
lip of a lion ;'' but he is in no peril, while his depredations remain too 
insignificant to attract notice. (Laughter.) 

The orations made to show that disunion would be the consequence 
of granting the right of self-government to the people of the Terri- 
tories were fine. The praises of the Euphuist in the Monastery were 
well merited. ''Marvellous fine words," said dame Gendenning, 
"marvellous fine words, neighbor Hopper, are they not!" 

"Brave words — very brave words — very exceeding pyet words," 
answered the miller ; "nevertheless, to speak my mind, a lippy of 
bran were worth a bushel o'them." (Great laughter.) 

The greatest embarrassment both to the President and to the coun- 
try — the principal obstruction to all legislative measures — arose out 
of the futile efibrt made during the last session of Congress to embody 
in one bill, on this subject, measures absolutely incongruous, or having 
no proper connexion with each other. When the State of Califor- 
nia presented herself for admission into the Union, and the President 



21 

had distinctly placed that measure as the very corner stone of his 
whole system of policy in regard to the new territories, there did not 
exist in either branch of Congress a sufficient numher of oppositig 
votes to prevent the passage of the necessary bill. But those who 
took the lead in the recent measures of ;idju^,tinent having resolved 
that no man should vote for the admission of California who would 
not agree to vote at the same time ten millions to Texas for a release 
of her claim to a portion of New Mexico, as well as territorial go- 
vernments for the latter and forUtih, the difficulties which before 
had surrounded the question, immediately thickened and spread a 
deeper darkness around us. A majority of either House might have 
been had at any time for either of the measures embraced in the bill 
separately ; but the majorities for each of these measures would have 
been composed of very different individuals. More than fifty Northern 
members of Congress were willing to do justice to the measure pro- 
posed by President Taylor for the admission of California, whoi were 
unwilling to vote the money for the Texas boundary, or the clauses 
for the organization of the territories without the anti-slavery pro- 
viso. On the other hand, many Southern members of Congress were 
willing to vote for one or both of the two last measures, who were 
unwilling to vote for the first. Disposed as I was, nay, even anxious, 
that any measures approximating to a settlement of the questions b*^- 
fore us should be adopted — sincerely desirous as 1 was to get rid of 
the noise of the alarmists and agitators in Congress who were daily 
making more hue and cry on these topics than all the rest of the 
country together, lashing themselves into fury, fiightening the timid 
at home, and creating apprehensions among all the friends of rational 
freedom abroad — I would have been at any time truly rejoiced to find 
the door^vay for legislation on other subjects (all of which had been 
completely occlucled by the introduction ot what was called the 
"omnibus bill") again opened, the country quieted, and the agita- 
tors silenced. This omnibus bill hung in the doorway more than six 
months, while those who attempted to drive it through, finding its 
passage obstructed from its own unwieldy composition, shouted at the 
top of their lungs to alarm the community. Still it hung in the en- 
trance, jammed on both sides, and for a long period it could be neither 
got in nor out. (Laughter.) An excuse 'became necessary for its 
probable failure ; and instantly the President was attacked because 
he had not recommended it. It was forthwith resolved that he should 
bear the blame of its defeat. A new coalition, which had been formed 
to push it through by main strength in opposition to the real wishes 
Congress, began to denounce not only the President, but the mem- 
bers of his Cabinet, because it ii-ould not go. (Laughter.) A meet- 
ing was railed in this city, to express public opinion in its favor. 
Another meeting naturally followed in o])position to it, at which reso- 
lutions were adopted complimentary to the administration, and par- 
ticularly so to some of its membeis. It is needless for me to say to 



22 



you that I did not prompt either of the meetings, and knew nothing 
of the proceedings of either, until they were j)ub]ished. Yet when 
the ])roceedings of the latter were laid before the Senate of the 
United States, a charge was distinctly made that I was the author of 
the resolutions ; and when that charge was denied by one of your 
Senators — my esteemed fiiend, iVlr. Wales, now present — a charge 
which you all know to be utterly and absolutely untrue, it was per- 
sisted in, and I believe never retracted. (Cheers and sensation.) All 
this was but apart of a general plan to lay the failure of the omni- 
bus on President Taylor and his administration. But Providence 
seems to have determined that this scheme should fail and be ex- 
posed. In the midst of all the clamor about the perils of the Union, 
the President died, and a new administration came into power. Some 
weeks elapsed, during which the proposed compromise, instead of 
gaining, lost strength even in the Senate. In the House there was never 
a possible chance for its passage. It consisted of several heteroge- 
neous detail*, each of which had been originated in some separate re- 
solution or bill proposed at the previous session, or on some former 
occasion. To carry it through, it was amended in any and every 
way by which it could get another vote ; and finally, though not at 
all in the shape in whicii it was originally introduced, the whole pro- 
ject, after distracting the country for so long a period, and effectually 
preventing the passage of any measure for the public good on any 
other subject, was voted down. This was long alter the death of 
President Taylor and the dissolution of his cabinet, and when it was 
made palpable to the woild that it was impossible he could be the 
cause of its defeat. The obstruction caused by this bill being once re- 
moved, the way was opened for the first effective motion towards the 
settlement of these questions which was promptly made by a distin- 
guished Senatdr from Maryland — Mr. Pearce, He grappled at once 
with the principal difficulty attending the whole adjustment, the 
question of the Texas boundary. He took that single vieusure by it' 
self, made a new boundary line, different from and more satisfactory 
than that proposed in the omnibus; and to him was eminently — far 
more than to any other — due the credit of its passage. (Ap[)iause.) 
He saw that this would lay the foundation for the s\iccess of the othi^r 
necessary acts of legislation. Knowing that it was impossible to lilt 
the enormous weight of all these incongruous measures at one time, 
in one mass, he separated them, and, as otiier men in ordinary life 
are accustomed to conquer difficulties, he resolved to take them in de- 
tail. He did me the honor to consult me on the subject of his bill 
before its introduction, and I did not hesitate to advise him to perse- 
vere in the course he proposed. The result was soon seen. The bill 
he introduced, unclogged by other measures, was passed in a few 
days without difficulty, and by a large majority ; and 1 have never 
doubted that, if the same course had been j[)urnied at the commence- 



23 

ment of the session, Congress and the nation would have been saved 
six months of unnecessary distraction and alarm. (Applause.) 

Viewing- all the measures in common with this subject at this time 
as they passed Congress, I am far from saying they were the best that 
could have been adopted. The settlement of the Texas boundary by 
the Judiciary or the Congress of the United States, as President Tay- 
lorVecommended, would have been, in my judgment, more consistent 
with the honor and dignity of the government, and would have saved 
us from the eti'ects of a i)recedent which will be invoked on some fu- 
ture occasion, when some State shall seek to take the law into her 
own hands, to induce the government to submit to imposition, under 
the pretext of bujnng peace. But an adjustment of the boundary by 
Congress or the Judiciary had become impracticable, in consequence 
of the encouragement held out to Texas to resist until she should be 
paid for her acquiescence. As to the territorial governments of New 
Mexico and Utah, I, of course, would be among the last to object to 
their organization on the principles of my own bill which passed the 
Senate two years before. These territorial bills provide substantially 
for the very measures I had mysflf proposed and strongly recom- 
mended ; and, individually, I was perfectly content with the adoption 
of my own scheme of settlement, so far as these territories were con- 
cerned. I should havp been satisfied with the admission of a State 
Government in New Mexico, as well as California, with a constitu- 
tion settling the question of slavery according to the will of her ow^n 
people. But 1 have not yet ceased to deplore, and I fear that I 
shall hereafter have much more reason to deplore, the failure of the 
bill I had proposed, on account of the dissatisfaction expressed in 
the South with the admission of the State of California. 

So far as regards California, the adjustment of the vexed question 
by submitting it to the judicial tribunals would, as Mr. Polk aiiirmed, 
and as I now repeat, have terminated the controversv forever, without 
any of that dissatisfaction now raging in the South. It was im-- 
possible that any Southern State, and especially that South Caro- 
lina, could have continued the ai.Mtatioi:i, as it noW exists, with the' 
votes of Calhoun, Butler, Burt, Khett,- and all the distinguished mere 
of the delegation of South Carolina, in favor of the bill, backed by 
the votes of Alason, Hunter, Davis, of Mississippi, Berrien, and every 
Southern Senator and Representative, except Messrs. Bad:>-er, Toombs, 
Stephens, and three or four others. The settlement of the questions 
by this mode would have been final and conclusive ; as it would have' 
been satisfactory to all parties. Our people are a law-abiding peo- 
ple ; and the whole proposition simply was that both parties should 
agree to go to law before the Supreme Court of the United States, 
and abide the result. Duty, honor and self-respect would have com- 
pelled all sections of the country to submit to the decision. No man' 
feels himself disgraced by it, who is beaten in a law-suit on a sheer 
question of law, after a "full and fair trial. The measure would hav^ 



24 

savod the honor of both parties, in any event. Leading Southern 
statesmen, with whom 1 was associated in the Senate at the time, 
often said to me, during the progress of the bill through that body, 
that, let the deci>4on go as it might, the honor of tiie South was saved 
by the tender to her of a fair trial before an impartial tribunal, and 
she V/ould be satistied. But when this bill was defeated in the House, 
the impression wns immediately made upon the Southern mind that, 
as a fair trial had been refused, there was a deliberate intention on 
the other side to disregard Southern rights and trample them in the 
dust. Ever since the session of IS-iT, that feeling haa rankled in the 
SouLl)ern bosom : 

" Hazret laterilethalis arundo.''^ 
And now the admission of California, with a constitution prohibiting 
slavery without the benefit of the trial demanded by the South, has 
produced an alienation froin the rest of the confederacy, among some 
mistaken gentlemen in that region, which I pray God, in his mercy, 
may soon give way to the more generous impulses which properl}' be- 
long to and grace the Southern character. (Applause.) 

And now, my fellow-citizens, 1 have to say, that I have seen 
nothing in the measures adopted by Congress to which I have refer- 
red, which should excite any portion of this Union to resistance 
ngainst the established authorities of the country; and I think it is 
the duty of every good citizen, whether he does or does not think 
that other and better measures might have been substituted in their 
place, not only to submit to the laws which have been enacted, but to 
stand by and support the government, if necessary, to the full e.xtent 
of his ability in carrying those laws into successful execution. (Ap- 
plause,) That President Fillmore will do his whole duty in this re- 
spect I have not a shadow of doubt; and I hope you are all willing to 
join with me in sustaining him in the discharge of that duty. (Ap- 
plause and frequent cheers.) In his patriotism, and that of the mem- 
bers of his Cabinet, 1 have the utmost confidence. I have no reason 
to believe that either of them would have refused his aid, at any mo- 
ment to the settlement of these vexed questions on the basis proposed 
by President Taylor. They have acquiesced in what appearfd to 
them to be the only practicable scheme of adjusting these ditliculties. 
The-y seek to sustain the Constitution and the laws of their country ; 
and I honor them for their purpose. While they stand by the Union 
I shall be with them and for them. If there be any one sentimeiit in 
my bosom more deeply seated and more deeply cherished than anv 
and all others, it is that of love and veneration for the institution.'* 
which our fathers have left us, and for the country, the whole coun- 
try, covered and protected by the American Constitution. (Great 
applause.) There will be no hope left for me or mine when this 
Union shall be broken up ; and should that melancholy p^•riod ever 
arrive, 1 shall he a wanderer without a home. I can take no pari for 
one section against the other. ^Applause.) To inc the prtiiervatioa 



25 

of thi-; Uiiidn is a matter of interest above all others, and, if neces- 
sary, I shall be found true to those who sustain it to the labt of my 
blood and my breath. (Lonix continued applause.) 

It is well known to you that at one period serious calamities were 
threatened to the country, inconsequence of the dissatisfaction enter- 
tained by our fellow-citizens on the Pacific because tliey had been 
denied by Congress the protection of the laws of the United States. 
Threats of separation began to be uttered by those who found them- 
selves thus deserted ; and to assure them of the paiernal care of the 
government, and its intention to assist them in any suitable mode, a 
special messenger, Mr. King, of Georgia, was despatched to Califor- 
nia. He knew and communicated to them the wishes of the Presi- 
dent for their happiness and welfare, and his desire that they should 
enjoy the protection of the United States and the benefits of a go- 
vernment of their own choice. This mission, which, we know, was 
attended with tiiglily beneficial results, in allaying the discontent 
then growing in that territory, was soon made, by unscrupulous politi- 
cians, the theme of obloquy and reproach. The President and his 
(Cabinet were charged, without one shadow of truth to ju-tify the ac- 
cusation, with having instigated the Caiifornians to exclude slaver}'- 
in the formation of their Slate constitution. The falsehood and con- 
temptible malisrnity of all the calumnies on this subject have recently 
been put to rest for ever by th^ publiration of a correspondence be- 
tween Mr. King and the naval and military commanders on the Cal- 
ifornia station. These calumnies, like a hundred others of similar 
character, served the purposes of the hour when they originated, and 
will soon sink into merited oblivion. (Applause.) 

Next in magnitude to the question of slavery, among the cnuses of 
embarrassment which surrounded the administration of General Tay- 
lor was one to which I have already briefly adverted, arising out of 
appointments to office. He was charged by the opposition press with 
proscription of his opponents; and many of the disappointed office 
seekers of his own party, of course, joined m the; clamor against him. 
It will be found, upon an examination of the facts, that, during the 
whole period of his administration, he did not remove a sufTicient 
number to give his own friends an equal share of the offices of the 
government; and as to th-j proprietj of the nominations to office 
made by him, one single fact is sufficient to put at rest for ever the 
slanders of his enemies. Although he necessarily made more nomi- 
iiaiions to the Senate than any other President of the United States 
ever did in an equal period of time, yet fev/er were rejected by that 
body than on any former occasion after a political revolution. (Ap- 
plause.) 

When Gen. Jackson came into office in 1S29, he was sustained by 
a large party majority in the Senate. Twenty years after, when Gen. 
Taylor came into power, there was as large a party majority in the' 
Senate op[)Osed to him. Yet, more appointments were rejected by that 

4 



•2G 

body In the session of lS'29-30 than in (hat of 1S4-9-50. It is a very 
easy thinp;to charge either proscription or improper partiality. Few- 
are willing to aJinit that their own peculiar merits do not entitle 
them to preference ; and the accusat on of injustice is too oft^n a tri- 
bute due from an unsuccessful applicant to his own wounded vanity. 
[At this point Mi: Wales interposed to say that among other difficul- 
ties connected with President Taylor's appointments, was the fact 
that, under an arbitrary rule of the Senate, their consideration had 
been deferred from time to time, until the session was almost entirely 
wasted.] Mr. Clayton then continued : Yes, my fellow-citizens, as 
your Senator has just informed you, appointments were kept befo e 
the Senate for months, even until near the close of the session. Every 
exertion was made that could );ossibIy be made by enemies bitter and 
unrelenting. Accusations most vile and infamous were made against 
the ffenllemen who were nominated. No means were left untried to 
pet a Democratic Senate, already predisposed to condemn them if 
they could be condenmed, to reject them. But the Senate of the 
United States, except hv one or two instances, where injustice was 
done, true to their own digniiy and honor, refused to prostrate the 
characters of the men who had been nominated by Gen. Taylor. 
(A[)i)lause.) And one of the greatest of these triumj.hs was obtained by 
a gentleman present here to-night, one of the sons of Delaware — Wil- 
liam D. Lewis. (At the mention of Mr. Lewis's name, the whole com- 
pany rose, gave him three enthusiastic cheers, and drank his health.) 

Mr. Clayton resumed : — 

Another dilficulty, which presented itself at the outset of General 
Taylor's administration, consisted in the number of private claims 
against the government which ongl)t to have been decided by the 
preceding adminisiration, but were left as so many legacies of trouble 
to their successors. The decisions made by the appropriate heads of 
departments upon these claims, whether for or against the claim.ants, 
were, of course, seized U[)on as subjects of complaint. 1 decided in 
favor of one of these claims, aft^r fully investigating all the facts my- 
self, and after taking the precaution to ascertain the opinion of the 
Attorney General on the subject, which concurred with my own. 
Backed also by the opinion of the former Secretary of the Treasury, 
Mr. Walker, and the Hon. .Joseph K. IngersoU, former ('hairman of 
the Judiciary Committee in the House, as well as of several commit- 
tees of both Houses, and foilownnga long list of precedents in refer- 
ence to the subject, I decided in favor of the claimants lor a part of 
their demand, and rejected the other part. The columns of the party 
press were forthwith opened against the claim, which was as palpably 
just, to the extent to which 1 had allowed it, as any that ever existed. 

This was the De la Francia claim. 1 was assailed with still greater 
ferocity for dis'i/lowing the tobacco claim of M. Porte. It soon be- 
came apparent that no decision could possibly be made bv any head 
of department, whether for or against the government, uhich would 



27 

not become the topic of innlio-nani ci'tisure. One of these old claims, 
which had been leferrcd lo a [)ievious Secretary of the Treasury, 
came before my friend Mr. Merediih. He referred it to the prop^-r 
law officer of the Government, the Attorney General, who, after a 
full review of the whole suliject, decided the question in favor of the 
claimant. The justice of his decision would never have been im- 
peached but for the unfortunate fact, as it turned out after the money 
had been paid, that the Secretary of VV^ar, Mr. Crawford, of Geor-iia, 
was interested in it ; a circumstance which was entirely unknown to 
any other meml)er of the (^ahinnt at the time of the decision. I did 
not know that there was such a claim in existence until many weeks 
after the money had been paid. 1 suppose the motive which inciuced 
the Secretary of War to conceal his interest in the claim was one of 
delicacy ; but I have a perfect conviction, without enteitaining a doubt 
of the justice o( tlie demand, that, had the lact of his personal inter- 
est been known or mentioned at any Cabinet meeting before the pay- 
ment of the mone}-, no settlement of that claim would have been 
made while Mr. Crawford remained a member of the administration. 
(Applause.) His conduct in offerins;, as he did, to Congr-'ss to abide 
the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States upon the 
legality of the claim,— to waive every advantage of defence except 
that arising out of the law itself, and to return the money in the 
event of a decision against him by the Court, should have exempted 
him from tliat abuse which lias been so profusely and unjustly lavished 
upon him. 

Indeed, my fellow-citizens, so constantly was my own attention oc- 
cupied with the proper duties of my own department, that very little 
time was left me to look after those of others. But I must in justice 
add, that, so far as my observation extended, the business of every 
other department, during the administration of General Taylor, was 
conducted, notwithstanding the unexampled embarrassments which 
surrounded him and them, with a degree of energy, and industry, and 
integrity which has never been surpassed. (Applause.) This tribute 
isjustly"^due from me to my associates in that Cabinet, whose kindness 
and courtesy to me, on all occasions, deserve my warmest acknowl- 
edgements. There has never existed an administration in this govern- 
ment in which there was greater harmony and concert of action. In 
the gentlemen who composed it the President entertained unbounded 
contidence, and they retained tliat confidence to the last moment of 
his life. (Applause.) Falseliood and calumny, directed agamstthem, 
as it was, from so many quarters, failed to tnake any imi)ression on his 
mind ; and he adhered to them with a tenacity which was increased by 
his perfect knowledge of the injustice with which they were assailed. 
Coinciding in sentiment with him on all important subjects, his wish 
was their law; and when he heard so often the pitiful aspersion that 
his Cabinet ruled him, knowing, as he did. how faithfully they earned 
out his own will, while they were often made to bear the whole re- 



28 

sponslbillty of Iiis df^cisions and actlong, he scorned the atlpmpts to 
alienate him from those whom lie had selected as his advisers. It 
would be ditiicult for any man to know, standing outside of that Cabi- 
net, the extent of the injustice done toil? respective members by the 
device, which was as cunningly conceived as it was industi-iously pro- 
pagated, that the appointmenls, and even the actions, of the Executive 
Government was dictated by his Cabinet, and not by the President 
himself. (Laughter.) I have repeatedly known a Cabinet minister 
abused for months by the wiiole opposition press of the country on 
account of an appointment which he had never suggested or recom- 
mended, but which had been ordert-d by tlie President alone. The 
unsuccessful applicant for office often found a balm for his wounded 
feelings in the belief, which he chose fondly to cherish, that be was 
the victim of some Secretary, though he was a favorite of the Presi- 
dent. (Laughter.) These and similar slanders on the members of 
the administration were* suffered too generally to pass without contra- 
diction. They were too la!)oriously eng; g-'d in the discharge of their 
respective duties to take upon themselves t.ietask of refuting the thou- 
sand falsehoods wfiich either party or pn-sonal malice was constantly 
hatching against them ; conscious tiiat, when the passions and j-ireju- 
dices of the hour sliould have passed avvav, justice would be done to 
them for the fidelity and untiring zeal with which they discharged 
their duties amidst greaterobstacles than had ever obslrucled the course 
of any previous administration. (Applause.) 

The tbreign policv of President Taylor was marked by an adher- 
ence to the principles inculcated in the farewell address of the father 
of his country. He sought no wars of aggrandizement or conquest. 
Peace and commerce wirh foreign nations, on fair ai\d honorable terms, 
were the objects he ajmed at. He regarded war, with the horrors and 
dangers of which no man was more intimately acquainted, as a mea- 
sure never to be jesorted to until every effort of honorable diplomacy 
should be exhausted. |n the front of his whole system of policy in 
this respect, he m;)nifested a scrupulous anxiety to maintain our neu- 
tral obligations and the faith of treaties ; and his principles were fully 
illustrated in the course he pursued towards Denmark and Spain. 

On the other hand, no man was more sensitive on points of national 
honor J and the promptitude and energy with which he demanded and 
recovered the foreigner who, after having sought an asylum on our 
shores, was kidnaj)ped and carried to Havana, at the very moment 
when he was maintaining in their true spirit our treaty stipulations 
with Spain by the suppression of the Cuban expedition, was an evi- 
dence of that stern determination, which never abandoned him, to 
maintain, under all circumstances and at all hazards, the honor of his 
own country. (Great applause ) While abstaining from all inter- 
ference with the domestic concerns of foreign nations and all entanc- 
lincr alliances, he did not withhold from such as maintained the re- 
publican system, or struggled to tiirow olF the .shackles of despotism, 



29 

tlie full and free expression ^of his own 'generous sympathies. (Ap- 
phnise.) For he was a republican not merely in name, but in liearl. 
(Applause.) He rejoiced in the happiness of his fellow men tlirough- 
out the world, and his bosom throbbed with hope for the succss of 
every effort, made in eilher hemisphere, for the spread of thost,- liberal 
principles upon which he profoundly believed their happiness de- 
pended. At the first dawn of the revolution in Hungary he was rea- 
dy to recognise her independence, if she should be found able to main- 
tain it, and at the very moment when an unprincipled press was en- 
gaged in denouncing him as most friendly to the despotic powers of 
Kurope, he was directing a mission to evince the interest of this go- 
vernment in the noble effort of Hungary to become free. (Great 
applause.) When her unhappy people fell beneath the bayonets of 
the Czar, he still publicly and proudly avowed, in a messnge to Con- 
gress, the anxiety he had felt for their welfare. "Though," said he, 
Hungary has fallen, and her patriotic children are now in exile or in 
chains, I am still free to say that, had she succeeded in maintaining 
her independence, we should have been the first to welcome her into 
the family of nations.'' (Long and continued applause.) He direct- 
ed our Minister at ( "onstnntinople to tender to tlie Sultan a free pass- 
age for the unfortunate Kossuth and his companions in captivity on 
board an American frigate, then lying in the Bosphorus, prepared to 
bring them to the American sliore. He instituted the first mission to 
the Helvetic Republic. (Applause.) He thought the period had arriv- 
ed when the strength of his own country and her high standing among 
the nations of the earth justified and demanded of her government to 
take a new position in reference to the affairs of foreign countries — 
not by assuming an attitude of hostility or by uttering threats of defi- 
ance to any, but by the manifestation of the strictest regard for the 
commercial and political rights of the American people as connected 
with those countries. No man ever sought more earnestly to prevent 
the interference of foreign governments in the affairs of the American 
continent. Yet he desired rather to prevent foreign aggressions upon 
the rights of the weak American republics by remonstrance in their 
behalt', than by threatening hostilities in iheir defence. (Applause.) 

In the negotiation of the Central American treaty — to pro- 
claim the ratification of which wa.s the last ofiicial act of his life — 
he insisted on a clause, now to be found in that treaty, which de- 
nied to great Britain any right in future to colonise, fortify, or 
assume or exercise any dominion whatever, over any part of Cen- 
tral America or the Musquito Coast — a clause which expressly 
forbids to Great Britain the right to use any protectorate for the 
purpose of exercising dominion, and also forbids to her any right 
to assume dominion for the purpose of maintaining a protectorate. 
(Applause.) He himself desired to recognise the Nicaraguan 
title by the Nicaraguan treaty, but left the question, after sub- 



30 

mitting that treaty to the Senate, with an avowal of his willing- 
ness to ratify it, to be decided as the Senate should think proper. 
I left the Depavtnient of State before the Senate acted on the 
subject, and, of course, I have no knowledge of their decision. 
But I have seen within a few days past a statement purporting 
to embrace an official letter from Mr. Cliatfield, the British Charge 
d'Aflfairs, to the Minister of Foreign Relations of Nicaragua, m 
which it is declared that the treaty negotiated between this Gov- 
ernment and that of Great Britain, " expressly recognises the 
Mosquito Kingdom, as aside the rights which you [the Nicaraguan 
Minister] pretend Nicaragua has on the coast." If Mr. Chat- 
field ever wrote such a letter, which I confess I greatly doubt, he 
has been guilty of a perversion of the Treaty which no honorable 
government could defend for a moment, and which the Britit^h 
authorities, I am well satisfied, woukl disdain to adopt. (Ap- 
plauseO 

The objects aimed at by the President in that treaty were to 
obtain for our country a speedy passage to the Pacific, not only 
by a great ship canal, but by any and every other cnnal or rail- 
way across the Istlimus, which divides North from South America 
— to secure the perfect neutrality of the vast region embraced in 
that Isthmus — to save the expense of maintaining any naval or 
military power to protect these routes — to guard them against 
blockade in time of war — to bring into closer relations with us 
our possessions on the Pacific — and to dedicate the highways to 
the uses of all nations which might agree to extend to them the 
same protection which the United States and Great Britain had 
guaranteed. For various reasons it is not my purjjose to discuss 
these subjects in detail, and I have only glanced at this one for 
the purpose of preventing any misconception in regard to one of 
the most important acts of General Taylor's udministiation. — 
(Applause.) 

The multiplicity and extent of our foreign relations, Avhich 
were constantly increasing in interest and importance, made the 
duties of the department over which it was my fortune to pre- 
side in the highest degree burthensome and laborious. Such 
was the pressure of public business, arising from this and other 
causes, that I was compelled to devote myself to it to the utter 
exclusion and consequent derangement of my private and per- 
sonal affairs. I was, therefore, anxious, as soon as the state of 
the negotiations entrusted to my charge by the President would 
permit it, to retire again to private life. It was for this reason 
that, in June last, I tendered to the President, through the hands 



31 

of my personal friend, the Attorney General, my resignation, 
accompanied by a pressing request that he would permit me to 
retire and appoint my successor. He refused to accept the re- 
resignation ; and when he informed me and my friend that my 
retirement ^Youkl embarrass and distress him, I felt that, how- 
ever necessary it had become for my private interest to withdraw, 
jet I could not leave him while such were his convictions. (Great 
applause, with cheering.) His influence with me was such that I 
should never have ventured again to press the subject upon him ; 
and when he had declared his sentiments and wishes, 1 felt that 
I would as soon have run aAvay from the battle of Buena Vista 
as to have deserted him. (Applause.) And now, remembering 
within how short a time after tliis interview his manly frame and 
noble heart were laid cold in llic embraces of death, I rejoice that 
I yielded to his Avishes at any sacriiice of case, or health, or for- 
tune. (Great applause.) 

My fellow citizens, it will remain to me a subject of proud con- 
solation that I enjoyed the perfect confidence and intimate friend- 
ship of this great and good man during the whole period of Ids 
administration; and that I laboi-edwith all the devotion of which 
I was capable to serve hira faithfully as a member of his Cabi- 
net. Knowing his qualities, as I did — and I think no man had 
a better opportunity of knowing them than I had — I believe I 
can speak of him as be was. I knoAV that 

" All the ends he aimed at were his country's." 

(Applause.) 
His moral, like his physical courage, was indomitable. No 
one ever approached the consideration of a great public question 
with more deliberation and caution ; and when about to decide 
it, he "took each njan's censure, but reserved his judgment." — 
When he had determined, no one was more firm, or could be 
more resolute in adhering to his purpose. He was one of the 
few men we meet with in this world who can 7iever descend to a 
base, mean, or dishonorable action. (Applause.) 

Though unpractised in the duties of civil administration before 
he entered the executive mansion, his stroncj and viirorous intel- 
lect, aided by a profound knowledge of human nature, for the 
acquisition of which no one ever enjoyed better opportunities, 
amply supplied the want of experience as a civilian ; and the 
kindness and benevolence of his nature never failed to win the 
hearts of all who came within the circle of his intimate acquain- 
tance. Surrounded by enemies, who daily sought to stab the 



32 

reputation he had earned by a long life of public service, his 
conscious rectitude enabled him to "smile at the drawn dagger 
and defy its point." (Applause.) This was his shelter arnidst 
all the storms of political opposition ; and the confidence of se- 
curity from all dangers, resulting from this consolation, never 
deserted him even in his dying moments. When informed by 
his physician that his last hour Avas approaching, his simple re- 
mark indicated the feeling that had pervaded his bosom and sus- 
tained him through life : "I am not afraid to die," said the ex- 
piring patriot, — "I have endeavored to do my duty." (Great 
applause. Mr. Clayton was here so overcome by his emotions 
that he was compelled to pause.) 

'J'his was the feeling which bore him unappalled through the 
perils of battle. This upheld him through that long and dreary 
night of blood and fire, when he w^on the first brevet in the war 
of 1812, by his successful defence of Fort Harrison against 
more than fifty times his numbers. In Florida the scalping 

knife and tomahawk of the savao;e had no terrors for the soldier 

... 

■who felt that he had always endeavored to do his duty. Amidst 
the thunders of Palo Alto and Reseca de la Palma, when he 
broke the Mexican power, and gave that confidence to his conn-* 
trymen which insured their victory in all the subsequent contests 
— in the blood-stained streets of Monterey, and in that tempest 
of shot which was poured upon him and his little army on the 
proudest field of his fame at Buena Vista — at the very moment 
when his garments were torn by the bullets of the enemy — the 
meyis conscia rec^i still rose serene, self-possessed, and triumphant 
through the terrors of that conflict. (Great applause.) He 
was snatched from his country before an opportunity had been 
allowed to develop his whole system of civil policy, and on tho 
very eve of the execution of purposes, devised by him for the 
public good, the knowledge of which must now forever sleep 
with him in his grave. But he had done enough for fame; and 
while a sentiment of gratitude continues to throb in an American 
heart, his memory will be cherished as that of one of the few 
■who were not born to die. (Loud and long continued cheering.) 

The most cordial and earnest applause followed the conclusion 
of this great speech, which, throughout, elicited the warmest 
expressions of approbation, and made, evidently, a deep impres- 
sion upon the auditory. It was felt to be a noble and powerful 
vindication of President Taj'lor's administration, and a just, as 
well as scathing rebuke of those, who, from various motives, and 
in divers wavs, had exerted themselvcb to embarrass und defeat 



33 

its success, Tlic regular toasts were proceeded with in their 
order, as follows : 

4. The memory of Washlnf!;ton nnd tlmt patriot band of sages and 
heroes who achieved our independence, and who laid the foiiiidation 
of this great and mighty Em])iie. Dead March. 

5. The sovereignty of the Constitution and Laws of the United 
States, over every other human power. Il/til Columbia. 

<o. Our glorious Union — Palsied be the Brain, and withered the 
Arm that would dismember it. 

Dr. Wm. P. Cunninc^ton's Sons^ for the Union. 

The sixth toast being read, Mr. Clayton rose and proposed 
nine cheers, which were given with great cordiality. 

7. Our Senators and f^epresentatives in the present Congress — 
faithful sentinels upon the ramparts of the Constitution. Honor to 
whom honor is due. Star Spangled Banner. 

This sentiment called up the Hon. John Wales, one of the 
Senators from Delaware, who said: 

Mr. President and fellow citizens: As one referred to in the 
t0!ist that has just been announced, I feel highly honored. I 
only regret that my colleagues are not here to express in their 
own language the grateful sentiments which I presume they 
would feel if they were among us to-night. I have been honored 
more than I deserve by the toast that has now been announced. 
If I have done my duty and secured the confidence of my fel- 
low citizens in the course which I have pursued in the Senate, 
it is to me a gratification higher than any other I have ever en- 
Jo^'ed. (Applause.) I can say, upon reflection, with regard so 
my course in the Senate, that there is not a vote I have given, 
Avhich I would now recal or wish in any way to change or to 
modify. And if, in any respect, I am entitled to your confi- 
dence, it is because, as a Whig, I have always stood, and ever 
intend to stand upon Whig ground. (Great applause.) Unse- 
duced by flattery or promises, not drawn away from the great 
Whig Platform by collateral issues, I stand, as I always intend 
to stand, upon the great basis, the true basis of Whig principles, 
upon which the honor and happiness of this country depend. — 
And it is only by carrying out the principles and measures of the 
AVhig party that you can ever expect to have happiness and pros- 
perity in this country. (Applause.) 

Let me for a moment advert to the position in which your 
Senators and Representative in Congress were placed. On en- 
tering upon the exercise of our duties, at the commencement of 
the session recently tcrniinated, what was our condition? We 



34 

had a Patriot Chief as President, surrounded by a Cabinet dis- 
tinguished for more eminence of talent, for more devotion to the 
true interests of the country, and for more skill and capacity to 
carry on the affairs of this government, than I believe has ever 
been witnessed before under any other President. (Great ap- 
plause.) Those of you, gentlemen, who have not had the oppor- 
tunity of personal observation, cannot estimate correctly the 
capacity, the talent, and the patriotism which was centered in our 
late lamented President and his Cabinet. Men more truly devo- 
ted to the great interests of the country; men who sacrificed 
more of private interest and private ease, never came into the 
administration of the government. 

What was the condition of things when the present Congress 
assembled? Both the Senate and House contained a majority 
against the President and the measures which he recommended. 
How did a true American feel under these circumstances ? AVheii 
he saw that patriotic chief as President, surrounded by that 
Council, so brilliant in talent, he felt safe that no measure which 
should be passed would jeopardize the safety and prosperity of 
this country. That was our only safeguard ; our only security. 
And, fellow citizens, if there is any thing to an American dearer 
than anj'thing else in our Government, it is a consciousness of 
safety in the Executive of the country. (Great applause.) 

The House of Representatives or the Senate may thwart mea- 
sures necessary for the public good ; but if you have a good Pre- 
sident, supported by a capable Cabinet you are still safe. And, 
fellow citizens, you know not how much may be comprehended in 
that term "safety." What would have been the fate of this 
country, if the madness which reigned triumphant through Con- 
gress during the first months of its session, had not been checked ? 
What was the state of things then ? Why, there was so much of 
dissention in one branch that they could not organize for some 
time. In the Senate there was a decided majority against the 
Executive. His friends were left powerless as to the execution 
of measures, however wise and salutary they might be. 

And now I venture to say to you, gentlemen, that from no 
administration which has ever existed under our constitution 
came state papers, recommendations of measures of public pol- 
icy, wiser, more patriotic, and more conducive to the public 
good, than those which were laid before Congress by the late 

administration at the commencement of the last session. 

Let their acts speak for themselves. And when those acts shall 



35 

all come before the piil)lic, I \\\]\ challenge any adrninistrntion 
to produce specimens of sounder statesmanship, of greater diplo- 
matic skill, of greater devotion to tlie true interests of the coun- 
try^ than the hite administration will present on the historic 
page. (Great applause.) Notwithstanding they were assailed 
•by disappointed olfice seekers, whose name is legion; notwith- 
standing they were assailed by a violence of falsehood and abuse 
siever before equalled in this country, or in any other, they 
stood firm; they carried on all the laborious duties of their 
offices with firmness; they breasted, with manly fortitude, the 
storm of calumny which was showered upon them. I did not 
hesitate to place the most unbounded confidence in such a Pre- 
sident, in such an administration. (Loud and long continued 
cheering.) I continued to do so steadily to the last; and I am 
exceedingly happy that this course has met with your appro- 
bation. 

Allow me to propose the fullowing toast: 

" The Whigs of the Union, whose political princij^les formthetrue 
basis of the prosperity and happiness ol' thr country — let theirrally 
cry be " in Union there is strenirth — united w^e stand, divided we 
fall." 

Mr. Wales resumed his seat amid great cheerine. 

The regular toasts were then proceeded with in their order as fol- 
lows : — 

8. The Quadi-uple Alliance — The Plough, the Loom, the Ship and 
the Anvil, mutually sustaining and supporting each other. 

S]>ee<l the Plough. 

9. The Army and Navy of the United States — which have covered 
themselves with imperishable i'ame. Star Spangled Banner. 

10. Our National Government — As much bound in duty to protect 
the labor of the country as to defend the country against the ioreign 
foe. Columbia the Gem of the Ocean. 

n. The Democratic Telescope, through which the Dead Sea in 
Asia may be seen, in.<;i(lc the Constitution; and our own Kivers, Lakes 
and Harbors outside of it. Sky high! and I, my stars!! 

12. The sacred cause of human Rights and Human Liberty through- 
out the world. Marseilles Hymn. 

.13. The Whigs of Delaware, beaten, but not dismayed — Disci, 
plined by misfortune, the next contest will find them more firm and 
united; and victory will then perch upon their banner. 

Rusin the Bow. 



36 

14. The Fair .'•'ex — The education of Mothers the civilization of 
the world. Here's a health to all good lassies. 

A numh'^r of letters from many distinguislied public men, who had 
been unable to attend the dinner, were then read by the President, 
among which were the following: 

Makshfield, Nov. 11. 1S50. 

Gentlemen — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter of the 5th of this month. 

Nothing can be more just and appropriate than the manifestation of 
regard and gratitude which political friends in Delawa'e propose to 
make to Mr. Clayton. His abilities, his long services in the public 
councils, and his able defence of the principles of the Whig party, 
well entitle him to this mark of distinction. 

It would give me pleasure to be present at his reception by his 
friends, and to partake of the festivities of the occasion. But my long 
absence from my post, and the duties which the near approach of Con- 
gress calls on me to perform, oblige me to deny myself the gratifica- 
tion of accepting your invitation. 

I pray you to tender mv regards to your chief guest, and to all 
friends whom so agreeable an occasion may call together. 

1 am, gentlemen, very truly your friend and obedient servant, 

DANIEL WEBSTER. 
Messrs. Wales, Latimer and Connell. 

By the Committee. — The Hon. Daniel Webster, whose fame will 
endure as long as the everlasting granite hills of his native State. — 
Drunk with nine cheers. 



Philadelphia, Nov. 12, 1850. 

Gentlemen — I am much honored by your invitation to attend the 
public dinner to the Hon. John M. Clayton, on Saturday, the 16th 
instant. Few men have served the country with as much faithfulness 
and ability as himself. Tlie State of Delaware, justly distinguished 
by her great men, takes a becoming pride in tlie late Secretary of 
State as one of the most gifted of her sons. A career of uncommon 
activity and usefulness, both in his native commonwealth and the 
counsels of the Union, has been suspended for a moment by a great 
public calamity, to be resumed, it may be hoped, speedily, and with 
unabated vigor and success. The space now left by his absence among 
statesmen in prominent positions, must be filled once more by one 
who has long shared in their toils and honors, and contributed his lull 
measure to the illustration of principles and the support of measures, 
identified alike with the well being of the Republic. 

Being unable, from previously formed engagements, to partake per- 
sonally of your festivities, I can only offer my warmest wishes for the 



37 

brilliant success of the occasion, for the happiness of yourselves and 
your associates, and for the continued honors of 3''our " chief ^uest." 

Asking leave to offer the following sentiment, I am, with great re- 
spect, your faithful servant, 

J. R. INGERSOLL. 
Hon. John Wales, John^R. Latimer, Esq., John Connell, Esq. 

The tried Whig Statesmen of the Republic — faithful in their la- 
bors and illustrious in their actions. The country is entitled to their 
untiring devotion — and their services reflect honor and glory upon the 
country. 

By the Committee. — The Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll: — A patriot son 
of a patriot sire. 



Chestertown, Nov. 11, 18.50. 

Gentlemen — I have received your letter of the 5th instant, inviting- 
me to a public dinner, to be given in Wilmington on the 16th Novr., 
to your distinguished fellow-citizen, the Hon. John M. Clayton. That 
gentlpman's eminent parliamentary and diplomatic ability are uni- 
versally admitted, and his long and faithful attachment to the princi- 
ples of the great Whig party of the Union fully entitles him to the 
public manifestation of the regard of his political friends. 1 should be 
very happy to be with you on the occasion, but engagements of a na- 
ture not to be neglected will deprive me of the pleasure. 

W^ith great respect, gentlemen, your obliged and obedient servant, 

J. A.PEARCE. 
Hon. J. Wales, J. R. Latimer, John Connell, Esq. 

By the Committee — Senator Pearce, of Maryland, whose riivhslng 
rod struck the line that gave peace and tranquility to the country. 



Washington, Nov. 14, 1850. 
Gentlemen — We feel very much honored by your invitation to the 
public dinner to be given to theHon. John M. Clayton, at Wilming- 
ton, on the 16th instant. The eminent and patriotic services of that 
distinguished statesman in the National Councils, and his faithful at- 
tachment to, and eloquent advocacy of Whig principles, entitle him to 
the esteem and gratitude of the VVhig party throughout the country. 
Most happy, therefore, would we be to unite with his political friends 
of Delaware, in the tribute of respect and regard which they are about 
to pay to him. But, gentlemen, our engagements at home, we regret 
to say, will deprive us of that pleasure. Begging you to accept our 
profound thanks for your kindness, and to convey to your distinguished 
guest our best wishes for his health and happiness, we remain 
Your obliged I'riends and servants, 

JO. GALES, 
W. W. SEATON. 
To the Hon. John Wales, John R. Latimer and John ConneU. 



38 

By the Committee. — Messrs Gales &: Seaton — Faithful and fearless 
expounders of the Constitution — an honor and a model to th^ profes- 
sion they adorn. 



Philada., 15th Nov., 1850. 

Dear Sirs — I have delayed replyir.g to your note inviting^ me to be 
present at the public dinner to be given to the Hon. John M. Clay- 
ton, in the hope of being able to gratify my own feelings by partici- 
pating in the festivities intended as a mark of respect to that distin- 
guished citizen, whom you justly characterise as eminent for his patri- 
otic services in our National Councils, and his faithful attachment to, 
and eloquent advocacy of the principles of the great Whig party of 
the Union, and whose career has added even to the brilliancy of the 
5>tate of Delaware, which has never yet failed to have some bright 
particular star in the gahxy of American statesmen. I regret extreme- 
ly to find that my attendance on the occasion will be rendered im- 
possible by a professional engagement here, which 1 cannot avoid. I 
offer you the following sentiment : 

"The Sons of Delaware — The pride of one State and the admira- 
tion of all." 

1 am, gentlemen, with great esteem and regard, very truly yours, 

VV. M. MEREDITH. 

Hon. John Wales, J. R. Latimer and John Connell, Esqrs. 

By the Committee. — Hon. Wm. M. Meredith, Pennsylvania's dis- 
tinguished son: — integrity and patriotism are synonymous with his 
name. 



MoRRisTowx, November 13tb, 1850. 

Gentlemen — I have had the honor to receive your kind invitation 
to meet the friends of your distinguished lellow-citizen, John M. Clay- 
ton, at a public dinner in Wilmington on the 16th inst. 

It would afford me much pleasure to join the Whigs of Delaware 
in this manifestation of their regard for Mr. Clayton, and gratitude 
for his eminent and patriotic services to the country. By his diplo- 
matic skill and liberal statesmanship, he has latelv gained additional 
claims to respect and admiration, not only from his political friends, 
but also from the whole country and the age in which we live. 

While a member of the late Cabinet of Gen. Tavlor, he success- 
fully maintained, under the most difficult circmnstances, the honor 
and faith of the Government ; strengthened the bonds of peace with 
the nations of the earth; and secured to the commerce of the world a 
great and common thoroughfare of trade, which will connect the two 
oceans that wash the eastern and western shores of our extensive and 
mighty Republic. 

1 sincerely regret that my engagements at home during the short 



39 

vacation of Con2;rPss, will prevent me from being with you on so 
agreeable an occasion. 

With much respect, yours, &:c., 

J. W. MILLER. 
To the Hon. John Wales, John R. Latimer, John Connell. 

By the Committee. — Senator Miller, of New Jersey; — An honor 
to that heroic State, whose soil, durino: our revolulionary war was 
long crimsoned with the blood, and whitened by the bones of its in- 
habitants. 



Boston, Nov. 13th. 

Gentlemen — I am greatly honored by your communication of the 
5th inst. 

It would give me true pleasure to meet the Whigs of Delaware at 
their approaching festival, and to unite with them in a jniblic mani- 
festation of their regard and gratitude for tlie patriotic services of 
their distinguished fellow-citizen, Mr Clavton. 

I regret that my engagements will not allow me to leave home in 
season for the occasion. 

Believe me, gentlemen, very sincerely, your obliged and obedient 
servant, 

ROBT. C. WINTHROP, Jir. 
To Hon. John Wales, John R. Latimer and John Connell, Esqrs. 

By the Committee. — The Honorable Robert C. Winthrop:— The 
dignified Speaker of the late House of Representatives of the United 
States — a patriotic descendant of a patriot race. 



Providence, Nov. 11, 18.50. 

Gentlemen — I am honored by your invitation to attend ,the Dinner 
to be given to the Hon. John M. Clayton, by his fellow "citizens of 
Delaware, on the Itith inst. 

My personal relations with that distinguished individual, and a just 
appreciation of his "eminent and patriotic services in our national 
councils," hardly allow me to /orego the pleasures of joining in your 
festivities — or in anything to do him honor. But the near approach 
of the session of Congress, and a necessarily limited opportunity to 
attend to my private affairs, preclude the possibility of my attendance. 
Allow me to tender to 3'our acceptance, this sentiment. 

"John M. Clayton— The Patriot Statesman of Delaware. — His 
laurels were not won by the sword, nor are they appreciated by 
Delaware alone: his fame is ideutitied with his country and its 
Union." 

Accept my thanks for the courtesy you have been pleased to extend 
to me, and believe me cordially and faithfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

JOHN H. CLARKE, 
To Messrs. John Wales, John R. Latin. er and John Connell. 



40 

By the Committee. — Senator Clarke, of Rhode Island: — An honor 
to that gallant Whig State, and a credit to the public councils of the 
nation. 



MoNTPELiER, Vt., Nov. 12th, 1850. 

Gentlemen — Yours of the 5th instant, extending to me an invitation 
to bf' present at a public dinner to be given to the Hon. John M. 
Clavton, by his political friends, on the 16th of this month, at Wil- 
mington, Delaware, has been received. 

If 1 were in the enjoyment of usual health, nothing would be more 
gratifying to my feelings than to unite with the Whigs of Delaware in 
the reception of their distinguished guest. Mr. Clayton has, by his 
eminent services, both in the Senate and in the Cabinet, proved him- 
self worthy of the highest honors his fellow-citizens can bestow upon 
him ; and I am glad to leani that you are about to make a manifesta- 
tion of your regard for, and your attachment to a public servant who 
has done so much to advance the prosperity, elevate the character, and 
increase the glory of his country. I thank you, gentlemen, for your 
kind invitation, and assure you that ill health alone prevented its ac- 
ceptance. 

I am, gentlemen, with the highest respect, your ob't. serv't. 

WM. UPHAM. 

Hon. John Wales, Hon. John R. Latimer, and Hon. John Connell. 

By the Committee. — The Hon. William Upham, Senator from Ver- 
mont: — The enlightened representative of the ''Bright Whio- Star" 
that never sets. 



W^sHiACxTON, D. C, Nov, 13, 1850. 

Gentlemen — -I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
favor inviting me to be present at a public dinner, to be given on the 
16th inst., by the Whigs of Delaware, as a just tribute of re.-pect to 
their distinguished fellow-citizen the Hon. John M. Clayton. 

It would afford me great satisfaction to unite with you in this ma- 
nifestation of the respect due to the long and eminent political servi- 
ces of an able and distinguished public servant ; and I regret that my 
official eng;igements growing out of the accumulation of business in- 
cident to the near approach of a session of Congress, compel me to 
decline your invitation. 

1 beg to assure you of my grateful appreciation of the kindness and 
regard which prompted your invitation. 



41 

I am, g-entlemen, with o;reat respect, very truly your obedient ser- 
vant, N.K.HALL. 

Messrs. John Wales, John R. Latimer, and John ConneU. 

By the Committee.— The Hon. N. K. Hall, the able and efficient 
Post Master General:— Modest merit seldom goes unrewarded. 



Georgktown, Nov. 15, 1850. 

Gentlemen — I have had the honor to receive, and extremely regret 
that it will not be in my power to accept, your polite invitation to 
the dinner to be given to Hon. John M. ClMVton, in the city of Wil- 
mington, on the IGth inst. Numerous private and professional en- 
gagements of a pressing nature, in anticipation of my speedy departure 
and absence from home for several months, will deprive me of that 
pleasure. 

Did circumstances permit, I need not assure you, gentlemen, how 
happy 1 should be to unite with you in the well merited honor which 
you propose to pav to our distinguished friend and fellow-citizen on 
the occasion referred to, and to add the tribute of my personal pre- 
sence to this public manifestation of regard and gratitude on the part 
of his polilical friends in this State, for his long and eminent services 
in the Councils of the country. For twenty years he has been ident- 
ified with the fame and fortunes of the Whig party of this country, 
and during that period he has been known and recognised in every 
State of the Union, as one of the most able, eloquent and etficient ad- 
vocates of its principles and policy, while in the distinguished and re- 
sponsible post which he has more recently filled, he has achieved by 
his skilful, firm, and patriotic conduct of our foreign relations, a repu- 
tation for ability and success, both at home and abroad, which has ne- 
ver been surpassed by any of the enlightened statesmen who have oc- 
cupied the same station since the foundation of the government. It 
was mv good fortune, as well as pleasure, to enjoy much of his society 
during the short period he presided over the State Department; and if 
there was any thing more than another' which, next to his admitted 
skill and ability, excited my especial admiration and respect for him 
in that high and responsible position, it was the intrepid and patriotic 
American spirit and feeling which actuated him in the discharge of all 
its difficult and arduous duties. His only ambition seemed to be, to 
use the last words of the lamented President under whom he served, 
to do his "duty" — to advance the true interests and permanent glory 
of this great Republic ; and how well he succeeded in those noble ob- 
jects is already amply attested by the enlightened judgment of impar- 
tial men without distinction of parties amongst us. The good faith, 

6 



42 

honor, and dignity of the country were alike fearlessly asserted and 
scrupulously maintained by him in all its intercourse and relations 
with foreign governments — the greatest as w-ll as the smallest ; and 
he left the oftice after having conducted the Department through ma- 
ny difficulties and perils of no ordinary nature, without once incurring, 
from any respectable quarter, the imputation of having compromised 
either by timidity or bad management. This 1 am aware is high 
praise, but, making due allowance for personal feelings and private 
friendship, I am convinced that it is not more than the future history 
of his countiy and the world will award him. 

1 have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your ob't. serv't. 

JOHN W. HOUSTON. 

Hon. John Wales, John R. Latimer, Esq., John Connell, E>q. 

By the Committee — The Hon. John W. Houston: — The sterling 
Whig, and approved Representative. 

Philadelphia, Nov. 15, IS.tO. 

Gentlemen — I am honored with your invitation to join the friends 
of the Hon. John M. Clayton, at a public dinner to be giv^n to that 
distinguished statesjnan, but a continued indisposition deprives me of 
the pleasure which your invitation proposed, and which until this morn- 
ing 1 hoped to enjoy. 

The discriminating voice of Delaware has, from the adoption of the 
Constitution, c illed to the National Councils men whose talents, at- 
tainments, and lofty patriotism have reflected honor upon their con- 
stituency, and it is most meet that evidences of appreciation of such 
worth should distinguish those who thus represent and ihushonor their 
native Sta'e. 

The honors which you are about to confer on your distinguished 
fellow-citizen, are evidence of true self-resp'^ct and becoming State 
pride, in you and those you represent, as well as of grateful recollec- 
tion towards the recipient. And though the faithful fellow-servant 
may receive his party honors around the pai'ty hearthstone, yet neigh- 
hors who have wiMiessed his willing sacrifices and enjoyed the bene- 
fit of his patriotic services may fet-l a desire to participate in the fa- 
mily festival. Deprived of that privilege, though grateful for an in- 
vitation to participate, I respectfully offer a sentiment, with the as- 
surances of profound respect for those whom you represent, and per- 
sonally for yourselves. 

I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH R. CHANDLER. 

Messrs. John Wales, John R. Latimer, John Connell. 

The Sta'e of Delaware — The nursing mother of laborious statesmen: 
like Gokonda, though limited in geographical dimensions, she is dis- 



43 

tingiiisln^d by the biilliancy and worth of that product from which the 
national jewels are constructed. 

By the Committee. — The Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, the inflexible 
Whig representative of Philadelphia: — A bright exam[)le that indus- 
trious habits and spotless morals are sure passports to honor and re- 
nown. 

[Thus far the proceedings are copied from the "North American."] 



Morton McMichaei, Esq., in an eloquent speech, replied to a toast 
coiiipliinentary to the Press, and in support of the great interests of the 
Whig party. 

VOLUNTEER TOASTS. 

By J. P. Comegys. Charles J. Dnpont, President of the Day — 
The Whig party of Delaware is proud to number amongst its most 
cherished leaders this eminent citizen; one in whom are illustrated 
those virtues of head and heart which make man noble. May he long 
live to enjoy the respect and admiration which are felt for him by all 
classes of his fellow-citizens. 

By diaries .1. Dupont, P'esident of the Day — Universal Education: 
The best security for [jublii liberty: and, next to religion, the best safe- 
guard of public morals. 

By Z. B. Glazier. The Whigs of Delaware — like the Whigs of 
the Revolution, to whom defeat was always a prelude to victory. 

By Major John Jones. Delaware — The first to adopt, so she will 
be the last to abandon, the Constitution. 

By B. G. Grayson. The Whig party of the Confederacy — Whilst 
the union of the first continues, the perpetuity of the other is secure. 

By W. T. Jeardell. J. M. Clayton— Delaware's noble, patriotic 
and cherished son. 

By Wm. Sloanaker, of Philada. The Union — It will outlive all the 
assaults of its enemies. 

By Eli Crozier. Mijor John Jones — His indefatigable exertions 
in behalf of Whig principles will never be forgotten. 

By John Connell, one of the Vice Presidents The first duty of 
every true patriot — the first duty of every good citizen — SUBMIS- 
SION TO THE LAWS. 

By John A. Allderdice. William D. Lewis, Collector of the Port 
of Philadelphia — Persecution has tried him in a crucible, and found 
him pure gold. 



44 

Mr. Lewis, being loudly called for, rose and returned thanks 
to the following effect : 

I rank, said he, Mr. President, among the happiest incidents 
of my life my presence here this evening. It is no small honor 
to have been invited to share with you the delight of hearing the 
unanswerable defence, to which we have just listened, of the last 
administration, and its late lamented chief whose heartbeat only 
for his country, and in whose pure mind I have a right to say 
calumny could make no lodgment. But the allusion so kindly 
made to my humble self by your principal guest, our great 
statesman and friend, and the distinction just conferred upon me 
by the company, call for special acknowledgment. They shall 
always be held by me in grateful remembrance. Could it be 
otherwise ? My lot having been long cast elsewhere, I am now 
standing almost on the spot of my birth. The air of Dela- 
ware is my natal air ; its sweet odor, " breathing the smell of 
field and grove," has lingered in my memory through all my 
wanderings, during an exile of more than forty years. Among 
those who surround me are some of my earliest friends, and the 
rest are descended from the friends of my ancestors. Thanking 
you, gentlemen, with all my heart for the compliment you have 
paid me, the value of which is enhanced by the fact of its having 
been proposed by one of your eminent citizens whom I meet to- 
day I believe for the first time ; and assuring you that, as it is 
my pride to possess, so shall it be my endeavor to retain, your 
good opinion, I ask leave, in conclusion, to offer the following 
Bentiment : 

The State of Delaware — a second Eden ; her sons living 
beyond her borders never cease to look back upon the spot once 
"their happy seat," with regret at their separation from it, and 
fond yearnmg for the hour of their return ! 

The toast Avas received with much enthusiasm, and, after sev- 
eral other volunteer toasts, the company adjourned at an early 
hour, highly gratified at the successful result of the brilliant 
festival, which was closed with nine cheers for the Honorable 
John M. Clayton. 



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